What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

April 12th, 2009, 00:47

City of God
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I rewatched the film and it convinced me it is one of the best crime film ever, not over Godfather maybe, but better than Reservoir Dogs by Tarantino, or even Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels by Guy Ritchie. I read that someone said the movie was like made by the both directors together. Maybe he was right, i did taste some familiarities. Several things that impressed me:

a) realistic portrayal of poverty of the characters, the way the story been told, as well as the filming location or slum environment named "City of God" in Brazil.

b) The gritty world of instant violence and amoral activities

c) the fallout of lacking stable family institution, corrupt government law enforcement.

d) Crime became part of life for young children, or "story of my carefree/nostalgic childhood…" as we often called.

e) cleverly plotted story telling

Originally Posted by dteowner
"Based on a true story" means that Mrs dte was going to drag me to see this one eventually. It wasn't bad. Fairly cliche story, but they did a nice job with the camera work and the actors weren't half bad. The suspense worked pretty well. Worth a rental.

I like the see that film. But i don't trust the part "Based on a true story". Awhile ago i read an article that there are some differences between stories "based on a true story" and " based on actual event/realy story" or something alone the line. Here is different article on those kind of movies article

Originally Posted by jaz
Tarsem Singh's The Fall is another visually grand movie,.

Like to see this one aswell. The cell was real visually stylish and unconventional movie as i saw it when it was first out.

Monsters Versus Aliens
A little silly on the storyline (about what you'd expect from a cartoon), but a fun show. Some of the lines were extremely funny. Strangely enough for a proper righty, I thought Kiefer Sutherland's General W. R. Monger was the best character. Stephen Colbert as the President was very good as well. The Wild Dogs had a good time and so did Mrs dte and I, so I'd call this film a great family night at the theatre.

— Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
Dallas Cowboys: Great Season! / / Detroit Red Wings: Another rollercoaster this year?

Ong Bak 2, the sequel (in order of release) and prequel (in storyline) to Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior.
I have seen the first and was relatively unimpressed, however, Ong Bak 2 was simply stunning. The sheer breadth of Tony Jaa's martial repertoire is incredible, transitioning swiftly on-screen from Muay Boran (more lethal and largely untaught form of Thai boxing), kenjutsu, silat and kung-fu, while utilizing an arsenal of weapons as diverse as a katana and three-section staff. What separates it from the vast majority of other martial-art films, however, is the realism of the choreography: not only do the combat scenes appear to be part of an actual fight, but the films antagonists act in a coordinated fashion, attacking his back and sides when an opportunity presents itself. In short, unlike so many other action films featuring hand-to-hand combat, you are never left thinking "but why didn't they duck?" or "if I were there, I would have stabbed him in the back when he was turned around punching out those six other guys one at a time" and the like.
…besides, I am a sucker for foreign action films.

17 Again
Yeah, yeah, give me a break. It was either Troy Bolton or Hannah Montana. Turns out this one ain't quite High School Musical. There's a few scenes that are a little much for younger kids, IMO. I wonder sometimes if I'm turning into an overprotective prude, but I'm a little uncomfortable with the Wild Dogs watching a scene about the high school sex-ed class, even if there's nothing graphic to it. Anyway, the movie itself wasn't too bad. As usual, the best lines and best scenes go to the sidekick. Zac Efron does a decent job, believe it or not. Maybe worthy of a matinee, but probably stick with a rental if the subject appeals.

— Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
Dallas Cowboys: Great Season! / / Detroit Red Wings: Another rollercoaster this year?

It was pretty cool, not at all what I expected. Very trippy film. Kinda disappointed in the end tho, I mean, she was such a total %#&#&, sleeping around on him and all that. I dont care how much you miss someone, that's disqualification territory there. Maybe he's got the kind of strange personality like a woman that gets beat and comes back for more. Walk on me all you want, I'm so pathetic that I'll take whatever scraps you throw me and hope you still like me.

State of Play
Fairly run-o-the-mill thriller with lots of political intrigue. Ends up with a bit of a sermon about the importance of newspapers, but it doesn't ruin the movie. I'd probably rate this one a solid rental. No real standout acting, no standout directing, no standout script, but nothing is really lacking either.

— Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
Dallas Cowboys: Great Season! / / Detroit Red Wings: Another rollercoaster this year?

For those that like weird stuff there's a japanese mini-series called MPD Psycho. It's from Takashi Miike, so if you don't like gore stay away. It's a detective/mystery/sci-fi around a group of characters that's investigating a series of murders performed by random people that is seeming connected somehow. The story is from a manga so don't expect any down-to-earth stuff here.

Yup. One of my local cinema-lines has a deal or something with some of the big movie studios. And we get to see some movies 1 week before they screen at any other local cinema (and it seems before other cinemas around the world as well). However it usually screens just once a week. And then the movie takes the standard 7 days a week at different hours.

We watched Cold Mountain which was actually pretty good … from the time when it seemed Jude Law was in everything, but since that faded he is now tolerable. I couldn't get past Nicole Kidman's occasionally shifting accents, though.

Last night I stayed up too late watching Highlander on TV … that is a classic …

Clive Owen as Interpol agent trying to prevent a huge bank from branching out into the grey and black market, here represented by a big weapon deal (high tech missiles). Everybody who gets too close has a sudden accident.
Positively old fashioned thriller, 70s style (Three Days of the Condor, All the President's Men). A lot of suspense, only one notable action scene. Which is well done though: a shootout with MPs in the Guggenheim museum. The smaller action scenes are only there to drive the story forward, they are technically solid but not meant to be spectacular.
The Bourne movies have similar content, but the contrast in style couldn't be bigger. The International is competently made, with a lot of beautiful shots - no surprise because Tykwer's films always look good - but there are no shaky cam and only seldomly fast cuts.
The movie has ca. 10 minutes of cliches too much in the middle part. Apart from that it's moving fast, it's very entertaining, often surprising and generally well acted. Only Naomi Watts had an unthankful role. Her char had a lot of screen time but not really much to do.
I liked it. A good B. And ignore all those whiners on IMDB. They probably expected a modern action flick. The International is way above average.

Watched Chronicles of Riddick with Vin Diesel yesterday—surprisingly, not bad for what it was and made me want to play the game…enjoyed the miasma of necromantic world-destroying Evil in black leather, and Alexa Davalos was a pretty cool rogue.